Massal selection of varieties for future plantings

Although it may not seem like it, work in the vineyard does not stop during the winter. These days we are preparing new grafts, choosing the best quality varieties from our estate. In the coming years we will plant new plots with mass selections of our own varieties.

Massal selection of grafts

After the phylloxera plague wiped out half the world’s vineyards at the end of the 19th century, Europe opted to graft the European variety “Vitis vinifera” onto the American stock (rootstock), to prevent it from being affected by new plagues of the noxious insect. The most common in the Penedès area are the Richter 110, SO-4 and 41-B rootstock, among others. The selection is made according to a previous analysis of the soil and the characteristics of the plot. Moreover, with grafts we give more quality to the future grape because of the adaptation to the soil and the affinity with the variety.

Grafts in the vineyard

To multiply the variety, shoots of the variety to be planted the following year are taken to a nursery, where the grafts are made in. From the shoots chosen, we select the healthiest ones. On other occasions we also carry out this practice in another way: we plant the American plant and graft it on the ground, the following year.

Trimming the grafts

We make vine shoot selections because we want to plant our own vine varieties that have given us very good results and good quality in new plots on the estate. The photos show part of the process, with the Malvasia variety, on the Can Martí estate.